Partisan cemetery in Bitola left neglected on November 4
Only the paths were swept for the holiday; gravestones, memorial plaques and the access road remain damaged and most graves uncleaned.
Partisan cemetery in Bitola remained largely neglected on November 4, the city's Liberation Day. Although municipal teams swept the paths before the monument, leaves still lay on graves, many memorial plaques were darkened and damaged, and the access road was ruined with broken concrete and holes.
Officials had said crews from the public utility would tidy the area, but the only visible intervention on the holiday was that the walking paths had been swept. The ruined approach has not been repaired, some gravestones remain partly collapsed, and most graves were not cleaned.
The site contains the graves or memorial plaques of dozens of partisans who died in the fight for Macedonia's freedom, including national heroes Elpida Karamandi, Taki Daskalo, Todor Angelevski, Stiv Naumov, Estreja Ovadija Mara, Kole Kanonski, Trifun Panovski and others. Among the darker plaques is the memorial to national hero Todor Angelevski. Of the dozens of plaques, only seven to eight have been cleaned by the Institute and Museum — Bitola.
Who is responsible?
The institutions have traded responsibility, and the cemetery has effectively become nobody's clear duty. On October 13 the Municipality of Bitola initially indicated that the upkeep was the responsibility of Public Enterprise Komunalec, but on October 30 the municipality replied that the cemetery was not, after all, within the enterprise's remit.
Municipality of Bitola stated: "We inform you that the responsibility of Public Enterprise 'Komunalec' is the cleaning and arrangement of the Bukovo cemetery, and part of the Partisan cemetery in the run-up to the holiday, and although they are not within 'Komunalec' competence, its teams will arrange them at the enterprise's expense. The Institute and Museum Bitola has competence concerning the memorial markers at the cemetery, and on their side a project for restoration of the 'Partisan cemetery' is in preparation."
Goran Stepanovski, director of Public Enterprise Komunalec, told reporters by phone that only the access road to the cemetery falls under the enterprise's responsibility and that it would be repaired by the end of the year. According to him, the Union of Fighters should care for the cemetery. The president of the Union of Fighters, Stefan Boshkov, said that after the organisation lost its legal competencies thirty years ago, responsibilities over the graves were taken from them, and that they have submitted a dozen written and oral requests to the Municipality to repair the Partisan cemetery and the access path.
On November 4, representatives of the Municipality, political parties and the Union of Fighters laid wreaths at the partisan graves to honour the fallen. A report published on October 20 had already highlighted the neglected state of the cemetery; two weeks later, for the Liberation Day, the situation remained largely unchanged.
Photo: SDK.MK)
